


Between You and Me, There is An Ocean

by IAmStoryteller



Category: Black Clover - Tabata Yuki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Basketball, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Selective Mute Asta
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:40:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26462062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAmStoryteller/pseuds/IAmStoryteller
Summary: For Yuno, high school was a means to an end.For Asta, high school was a pain.And they were at the opposite ends of the high school spectrum that neither Yuno nor Asta expected junior year to go the way it did.
Relationships: Asta & Leopold Vermillion, Asta & Secre Swallowtail | Nero, Asta/Yuno (Black Clover), Charlotte Roselei/Yami Sukehiro, Dorothy Unsworth/William Vangeance, Finesse Calmreich/Finral Roulacase, Gauche Adlai/Grey, Kahono/Noelle Silva, Klaus Lunette & Mimosa Vermillion & Yuno, Langris Vaude/Mimosa Vermillion, Lemiel Silvamillion Clover/Secre Swallowtail | Nero, Leopold Vermillion & Yuno, Licht/Tetia (Black Clover), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Noelle Silva & Yuno, Zora Ideale/Kirsch Vermillion
Comments: 96
Kudos: 158





	1. Asta

**Author's Note:**

  * For [IDEKWhatToCallMyselfLOL](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IDEKWhatToCallMyselfLOL/gifts).



> Hi! 
> 
> Here's another Black Clover fic for you all to enjoy. It's a bit different than what I normally write, but I hope you all enjoy it. The story came about when I got a very earnest message from IDEKWhatToCallMyselfLOL making the request. Normally, I don't take requests because I have too many of my own ideas (cue me staring at the increasing pile of Black Clover fanfic ideas with apprehension), but I was moved to know that someone had been inspired by my writing.
> 
> This is a YunoAsu Modern AU, featuring basketball and a selective mute Asta. I thought it was an interesting premise to have the character known for being loud and take his voice away. Since I headcanoned that Red (from Pokemon) was selective mute, I thought I'd give it a shot with Asta.
> 
> What I wanted to clarify:  
> Asta's selective mutism doesn't mean that he chooses when he speaks or not; alongside it, Asta also has social anxiety disorder. Asta doesn't speak at school at all and won't speak to the service workers at stores, etc either. At home with Vanessa, Gauche, Marie, Asta is fully capable of limited speech. What throws people off is that Asta smiles all the time, he's very kind and has a strong sense of right and wrong, but he doesn't express himself in the best ways either. He does get into fights often. He has ADHD on top of the anxiety and selective mutism, which makes school difficult for him. Asta IS NOT on the autistic spectrum.
> 
> Keep in mind that this an AU so things are different than canon.

Yawning, Asta sat in his assigned seat. Having an 8:30AM Literature class was rough. Though, he should be used to having the toughest class first thing in the morning since this was the third year in the row that it happened. Considering that Mr. Fuegoleon Vermillion was the best teacher, Asta figured that it was worth breaking his brain first thing. 

What he wouldn’t give to have an early morning gym class? His classmates were milling about the room and waiting for their teacher. The conversations he overheard were usually about what they did over summer break or some new thing on Twitter. There were times when he thought about joining in the conversations, but he usually kept to himself, unless it was close friends.

“Sit down in your seats, folks,” said Mr. Vermillion. The tall orange-haired man was the epitome of cool. He was a great teacher and very knowledgeable. And never once did he make Asta feel stupid. Everyone like Mr. Vermillion, but the students of Clover Imperial Escalator Academy knew that he wasn’t beyond handing out detentions or worse, community service. “Today, we’re discussing the Junior Year Assignment, which will be the biggest assignment for this class. I will partner you up.” He pulled out packets from one of his folders. He walked around the room to pass them to each row leader.

It was already the first week of junior year and Asta was already done, as he stared at the packet headline and requirements:

**LITERATURE III**  
**Junior Year Major Assignment**  
** (Worth 20% of Your Final Grade) **

OVERVIEW:  
Requirements:  
Pairs (or trios, depending on the class size) will **EACH** submit:  
-1 (One) 7-10 page paper on the theme/metaphor/character of your choice from the book of your choice  
-1 (One) 5-7 page synopsis of the book of your choice  
-1 (One) 2-3 opinion paper of the book of your choice

Pairs (or trios, depending on the class size) will TOGETHER submit:  
-1 (One) Shared Journal  
-1 (One) 7-10 minute PowerPoint presentation which will be presented to class

*

Asta wanted to cry, as he skimmed through the packet. The papers were one thing, but a presentation? This was gonna suck, unless…

“Leo, you’ll be paired with Asta,” said Mr. Vermillion. He rattled off the other pairs of students. And then said, “I’ll give you ten minutes to discuss when you’re gonna meet to work on the assignment. And then we have to discuss the homework’s readings.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, he was glad that Mr. Vermillion was sensitive to Asta’s issues. Leopold Vermillion was Mr. Vermillion’s younger brother and when there was a presentation, Leo was often paired with Asta. Not only was Leo super nice, but he didn’t mind that Asta couldn’t communicate well. 

“Awesome,” said Leo, coming over to Asta from his seat across the room. “Are you free this afternoon? We can meet at the library and figure out what book we’re doing and our general plan.”

Asta nodded.

“Great! You can meet me at the gym. I still have basketball practice,” said Leo, grinning. He was always very cheerful and helpful. He and Leo weren’t exactly friends, but they were friendly acquaintances.

Asta just nodded again and gave him a thumbs up. 

Leo laughed. “Yeah, I mean, it’s gonna take us months to get this all done, so better sooner rather than later. Oh! Practice might run later, so you can just sit on the bleachers until I’m done yeah?” Leo chatted some more, already having ideas for what book they might want to cover for the assignment until Mr. Vermillion called them to attention to be the day’s lesson properly.

With his afternoon booked due to the big literature assignment, Asta thought about nothing else all day. Asta either hyper-focused on one thing or worse, his mind flitted through many things that made it hard to concentrate. He couldn’t win either way.

At lunch, his friends and his foster brother sat at their usual table, and Secre, his best friend, noticed that Asta was thinking about something. Secre had been his friends since middle school. She was dressed in the uniform but she dyed her hair black and kept her tongue-ring in, despite it being against school rules. Secre was very sarcastic but in a quiet way.

“What’s up with you,” Secre asked him.

Asta takes out his tablet, which he was allowed to carry since he needed it to communicate. He opened up the notebook app and wrote down his response. He told her that he and Leo were meeting up for the literature assignment after Leo got out of basketball practice. Secre made a face. She wasn’t the biggest fan of the basketball team. In other schools, soccer/football were the favored sport, but the basketball teams (both boys and girls) were the best in the Clover Kingdom. Many players who played here tended to go off to the NBA or the WNBA.

It made some of the basketball players have big egos, especially many were already from rich and successful families.

“Leo’s nice,” said Secre, diplomatically. Asta liked to give everyone the benefit of the doubt but Secre was much more cynical. Asta supposed it was one of the reasons they were good friends, they needed each other’s points of view to stay centered. “Be careful. Text me, if you need me.”

Asta wrote, _“Always.”_

After school, Asta took his time at his locker as he texted Miss Vanessa (his foster mom) that Gauche (his foster brother) was picking up Marie (Gauche’s little sister and Asta’s foster sister) from the elementary campus of their Clover Imperial Escalator Academy. Gauche hadn’t been too happy that he had to leave Asta behind. Despite Asta’s foster brother’s terrible personality and bad attitude to anyone but Marie, Gauche did care about Asta’s well-being and worries. Asta wasn’t helpless. He was perfectly capable of taking care of himself.

Once he received a reply from Miss Vanessa, he went to the on-campus coffee shop to sit and wait until he went to pick up Leo from practice. Everyone in the school knew that the sports’ practices were closed, so he didn’t want to interrupt them until it was close to the practice’s ending time.

About an hour and a half later, Asta left the coffee shop, and headed to the gym. When he entered the gym and quietly sat on the bleachers, the three boys’ teams (freshman, Junior Varsity and Varsity) were still practicing, meaning that the practice was going a bit long that afternoon.

Asta enjoyed basketball. He played with his friends sometimes if they were in the mood to keep up with Asta’s boundless energy. Asta did work out to keep in shape and it made people rethink bullying him since he was built for a sixteen-year-old. Though he loved basketball, he never got a chance to play on a proper team. Asta had tried joining the basketball team in middle school but due to his selective mutism, social anxiety and ADHD prevented him from even getting a spot. While he was short in addition, it didn’t mean that he was at a disadvantage. Volleyball players Hinata Shouyou and Hoshiumi Korai proved the world wrong at the Summer Olympics, after all.

He watched the JV team score on the freshman team and noticed that the star player for the JV team, Yuno Vangeance, wasn’t out there. Yuno was a great small forward, easily able to perform all the positions on the team. Hailed as a prodigy, Yuno was a sure choice for Varsity this year when the senior members retired to focus on their studies.

“Practice is closed.”

Speak of the devil and he shall appear, he remembered Father Orsi saying this once or twice. Yuno was sitting next to him with a blank stare on his face. While they had been in high school together, Asta never had any classes with Yuno, who was in the super advanced track. Yuno was still staring at Asta, as if waiting for an explanation.

Asta fumbled with his backpack as he needed his tablet, but Yuno didn’t make a comment or huff in annoyance. He waited until Asta got ready. 

_“Waiting for Leo. He’s my lit assignment partner.”_

“This is the last game and then there’s the cool down exercises, so it’s gonna be another ten minutes,” said Yuno, pulling out a book. It was then that Asta noticed that Yuno had a cast on his wrist. 

It made sense not to be playing with a broken or sprained wrist, but Yuno must have still had to show up for conditioning training. Yuno didn’t say anything more and just read his book.

Yuno was attractive, especially up close. He had messy wind-swept black hair and pretty golden eyes. He was tall and well-dressed. It was kind of irritating that he was a basketball prodigy, super intelligent and handsome. But Yuno was just so cool.

Asta must have been staring at Yuno for far too long because it was Leo’s voice that broke him out of his focusing.

“Asta! Thanks for waiting,” said Leo, waving up at him. He was dressed back in his school uniform and his red hair was wet from a quick shower. He climbed the bleachers. “Yuno, hope you weren’t bothering Asta!”

“Shut up. I wasn’t,” said Yuno, scoffing.

Leo shook his head, amused. “I know you, Yuno. You’re rude! Like all the time.”

“Politeness is a lie,” retorted Yuno.

“You just don’t want a fan club,” said Leo, laughing. “Hey, Asta, ready? Later, Yuno, we got a ton of work.” Yuno rolled his eyes and scoffed again. 

Asta saw the easy banter and friendship between Yuno and Leo. It seemed like they had a good friendship. Asta waved at Yuno, out of habit of Asta being polite. He hoped he wasn’t blushing.

“Later,” said Yuno, nodding in acknowledgement of Asta.

With that, Leo grabbed Asta’s arm and pulled him. “C’mon!” 

Asta followed Leo’s lead, because homework.

Ugh, homework.

_~to be continued_


	2. Yuno

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuno doesn't know what to make of Asta

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first few chapters are gonna be build up, but I promise the pace will pick up soon.

Yuno watched as Leo dragged off Asta, the ash-blond haired guy who was unable to speak. He hoped that Leo was wrong and that he didn’t come off as rude to Asta. Asta seemed like a genuinely nice person. It wasn’t that Yuno knew much about Asta, except what Leo told him and the rumor mill of their high school, as Leo was friendly with Asta, being project partners often. 

Yuno felt bad that Asta seemed nervous when he said something about the closed practice. Asta had dug through his backpack with a nervous “please-don’t-be-annoyed-with-me” smile on his face. While it was true that Yuno wasn’t the most personable person in the world, even Yuno knew when not to be an asshole. It seemed as though Asta got less nervous since Yuno hadn’t said anything more or asked him to hurry with an explanation. He wondered if Asta wanted to communicate with Yuno while he waited for Leo. Asta was kind of cute.

Now that he was thinking of it, he hoped that Asta was gonna be okay dealing with Leo for the big project. It was a very big assignment with a presentation section. And Leo can be a bit much.

In his own literature class with Mr. Nozel Silva, he and Mimosa were paired up. Thankfully, both he and Mimosa were big readers and they already decided on the book they were using for the project. He and Mimosa had been best friends since they had met in elementary school. She was Leo’s cousin and the Captain of the Basketball Team Kirsch Vermillion’s little sister. Mimosa introduced him to both Noelle Silva, another friend, and Leo. Klaus came along in high school, even if he was a year older.

“Yuno! I’ll be done in fifteen minutes,” called out Coach William Vangeance, Yuno’s adoptive dad. William was also a history teacher at the school.

“Yeah,” responded Yuno. He put his book in his bag. He glared at the cast on his wrist. It had been an accident the week before school started. Dorothy Unsworth, William’s wife and Yuno’s adopted mother, had been rearranging her fanciful hat collection and Yuno had been worried about her falling off the ladder. Instead, Yuno was the dumbass who fell while helping Dorothy put her hat boxes away. He headed out of the gym and went to the teacher’s office building.

He missed playing basketball with everyone.

Dorothy was waiting already, sitting on the ledge of a brick wall, playing with her phone. She was also a history teacher, which is probably why she and William had gotten along in the first place. They had been taking care of him since he was seven. They officially adopted him when he was ten. They were good, supportive parents, who loved Yuno, even when Yuno was difficult.

He loved them too, in his own way.

“Yuno! William just texted me,” said Dorothy, cheerfully. She had purple-dyed hair, much to the chagrin of the Headmaster. She looked young for her age, sometimes getting mistaken as a teenager. “So, what do you want for dinner?”

“Don’t care,” said Yuno. He leaned against the brick wall, as they waited for William to join them. After all, the teacher’s parking lot was right there. And William drove them to school every day, meaning that Yuno was extra early for school all the time.

“You say that every day,” teased Dorothy. “C’mon, help your old mom out and make a decision.”

Yuno sighed, “Then, I want lemon chicken with mashed tatoes.”

“I'm here,” said William, approaching them. “Ready to go home?” Dorothy hopped down from the ledge, which caused both Yuno and William to tense just in case she fell. She was a bit of a klutz, since she didn’t pay attention to her surroundings.

“Good work today,” said Dorothy, taking hold of William’s hand.

Yuno rolled his eyes. The only downside of them being his parents was their lovey-dovey and flirty behavior, as if they were still newlyweds. They were happily in love and it was gross. “C’mon. I’m hungry.”

“Yes, yes,” said Dorothy. Together, the family of three headed to the car and began their journey home. They piled into the car and they were off.

“So, that was Asta, right? The boy on the bleachers,” asked William.

“Yeah,” said Yuno. He hated sitting in the backseat but Dorothy called “infinite shotgun” when he was eight and Yuno didn’t have the energy to argue, then or now.

“Oh, I love that kid. He’s so sweet,” said Dorothy, gushing. All teachers had favorite students. “He’s in my class again this year. He’s very clever. I hope you were nice to him.”

“I wasn’t rude,” said Yuno, reminded of Leo’s earlier teasing.

“You can be prickly sometimes, dear,” said Dorothy, mildly. “But you’re a good boy. Oh! Have you and Mimosa picked out your book? Nozel told me that he partnered you guys up.”

Yuno sighed. Dorothy had the tendency to go from topic to topic. At first he had a hard time keeping up but he got used to it. “We’re reading _Dogeaters_ by Jessica Hagedorn.”

“Great choice. There’s a lot to unpack there and it’s not too long to read,” said William, approving. “So, do we need to stop at the store before we get home?”

“Nope! And I even got Yuno to tell me what he wants for dinner, but it’s his favorite so we have the ingredients,” replied Dorothy, cheerfully.

“Oh, that’s wonderful.”

Yuno sighed, as they teased him a bit. Then, he smiled, but looked out the car window so they wouldn’t see. He had a reputation as a stoic person, after all.

_~to be continued_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think.
> 
> Two chapters incoming for oct!


	3. Asta

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asta's normal school activities continue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad that everyone is enjoying things so far.

Every week, once a week, Asta had to go to the guidance counselors’ offices. He went either early morning before homeroom or after the last class. There were three full-time guidance counselors and about twenty part-time ones. Acier Silva, Sister Theresa Rapual and Father Orsi Orfai were the main ones. They were all great, but Father Orsi was the one that took care of Asta and his special accommodations.

It was the first meeting of the year and it was early in the morning. He was the only student in the school, so Misses Acier gave Asta a donut and a bottle of orange juice while he waited for Father Orsi to arrive with Sister Theresa. The two carpooled and were always late and bickering when they showed up, which is exactly what happened as they burst through the door.

“Next time, I’m driving. You’re trying to murder me, you old coot,” said Sister Theresa, holding a large coffee in one hand and her leather briefcase in another. “You drive too slowly, we’re gonna get run off of the road one of these days!”

“I don’t want to be pulled over by the police first thing in the morning, Theresa, so no, you can’t drive,” said Father Orsi. He had a medium coffee in his hand and his briefcase in another. Both realized that Asta was sitting in the waiting chair. “Asta, my boy! Good to see you. I’ll be right with you, alright?”

Asta nodded, smiling as Sister Theresa went to her office and Father Orsi went to his. He unlocked the door to it. Asta got out of the waiting chair and followed the old priest into the office. 

Once they both settled, Asta was staring at Father Orsi on the other side of the desk. “So, how’s everything been this past week?”

Here was the thing. Father Orsi asked the same questions every time, so Asta pre-wrote his response the night before the weekly meeting. Asta smiled and handed him the first note (always on index cards).

_“The week is going pretty well so far. No incidents yet.”_

Father Orsi raised an eyebrow. “Very good. Have you been able to keep up with your schoolwork thus far? Are the teachers doing the accommodations?”

_“Schoolwork is fine. The teachers are used to me by now, so it helps. Thanks.”_

“Glad to hear,” said Father Orsi. “I know that you have your big project in Literature this year. Mr. Vermillion paired you up with Leo again I heard. I’m glad.”

Asta didn’t have this answer ready so he wrote quickly on a notepad, which Father Orsi always waited patiently for Asta to finish.

_“Me and Leo figured out what we’re reading already, so it’s working out.”_

Nodding his head once, Father Orsi continued and asked, “How’ve you been feeling? Feeling anxious recently?”

_“No more than usual. Still going to the state psych on Thursday afternoons like I’m supposed to.” ___

__“Alright. Remember your breathing exercises. The ADHD medicine was changed recently, according to Miss Enoteca. Any side effects yet,” asked Father Orsi._ _

__Asta shook his head and wrote a quick response. _“I’ve adjusted well to them.”__ _

__“That’s wonderful,” said Father Orsi and he meant it. He always meant it. “Last thing. You’re a junior now, so I’m going to put together some info for you about possible colleges and careers that I’d think you’d excel at doing. I’ll have it ready for next week. So I want you to think about what path you want to take for college for next time. And if you have any problems, my door is always open.”_ _

__Asta nodded and handed a standard “Thank you” card to the old priest._ _

__“Have a good day. I believe in you, Asta.”_ _

____

*

Lunchtime rolled around before Asta knew it. He was sitting with his friends and his foster brother, as always. Asta was eating leftover mashed tatoes and butter chicken that Gauche cooked the night before. Since Miss Vanessa was not the best at cooking, Gauche and Asta took turns in the kitchen to make sure they fed themselves and Marie. Admittedly, Gauche was way better at cooking than Asta, but Asta knew how to bake a mean apple crumble cake, so it was balanced.

“Asta…do…you…want…my…pudding,” asked Henry. Henry had a speech impediment so he always spoke slowly in order to stop himself from stuttering.

“No,” said Gauche, stealing the pudding cup from Henry’s lunch tray before Asta could say yes. (Yes, Asta liked the pudding cups they had at the cafeteria, but they were expensive as heck). “Asta can’t have any more sugar today. He had pancakes and syrup this morning.”

Asta wrinkled his nose in annoyance. He knew that Gauche was looking out for him, but he didn’t have to be rude to Henry.

Gauche said, “Remember the doctor said that you can’t have too much sugar. You’re susceptible to diabetes.”

Asta raised an eyebrow and thankfully, Secre interjected. “He’s susceptible to a ton of things. Let him have the pudding cup.”

“Then no cookies this afternoon,” said Gauche, holding the pudding cup out for Asta to take. Asta took the cup and stuck his tongue out at his foster brother. Gauche made a rude gesture which caused him to be smacked on the hand by Charmy.

“Be nice,” said Charmy, scolding. Charmy was a senior like Gauche. She was a foodie with a killer Instagram that just had mouth-watering food on it.

“Asta started it,” said Gauche, glaring at Charmy.

“Asta has never done anything wrong in his life,” said Charmy, jokingly. She grinned at Asta. “I’ll make you some sugar-free cookies for tomorrow. Ignore the grump.”

Asta smiled. He signed a thank you to her. It was one of the signs that his friends recognized. Charmy’s cooking was the best. He went back to eating, when he heard someone call his name.

Leo was jogging up to their table and every single one of Asta’s friends stopped what they were doing to stare at the guy blatantly. Heck, even Magna and Luck stopped fighting over their Switches. His friends were so embarrassing. “Asta! Hey, I just got word that basketball practice is cancelled since someone set off stink-bombs in the gym, so do you want to come over to my house and work on our assignment plan?”

Asta nodded and shot a look over at Zora, who was nonchalantly cleaning his teeth with a toothpick. Zora Ideale was known to use the stink bomb as retaliation against people who he didn’t like or did something annoying. It was just unfortunate that Zora used his chemistry knowledge for pranks. The thing was that no one was able to prove it was Zora. Even if his dad was the basketball coach and gym teacher, it wouldn’t get Zora out of trouble.

“Oi, rich boy, no funny business with Asta, got it,” threatened Gauche.

Leo laughed. “Yeah, I know! It’ll be fine. Right, Asta?”

Asta nodded. 

“See? Meet me at my lockers. Later!” With that Leo went back to the table he shared with his friends, which included Yuno, Noelle Silva (Misses Acier’s daughter) and Mimosa Vermillion.

Sighing, Asta pulled out a piece of paper and wrote, while Gauche was still glaring at Leo from across the cafeteria, while Finral and Grey fussed that Zora was causing trouble again. He handed the paper to Gauche.

_“Can you stop embarrassing me? Leo’s really nice. He helps me out a lot. I’d appreciate a bit of trust. I can take care of myself, Gauche.”_

“I don’t want you to get hurt,” said Gauche. His face was usually mean looking, but underneath, he cared about Marie and Asta. “Leo’s a nice guy, sure, but his fans aren’t.” 

It was true that while Leo and the rest of the basketball team stars were really awesome guys, there were unofficial fan clubs obsessed with them. It made things difficult for everyone else. Asta and his friends had run-ins with the fan club-types before—it was actually one of the first fights he had in high school back in freshman year. Asta grimaced at the reminder that horrible time in his life.

“I can go with Asta,” said Secre, offering. 

Asta shook his head at his best friend. He gave her his prewritten card _“I’ll be okay.”_

“If you’re sure,” said Secre, shrugging.

“Just keep your phone on and charged,” said Gauche.

Rolling his eyes, Asta just nodded once or Gauche would never let it go.

_~to be continued_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think!


	4. Yuno

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuno is smitten already

“And then, Langris had the gall to say, “Well, that’s not my problem,” after his poor brother brought him a handmade lunch,” said Mimosa, huffing in all her righteous fury. They just entered the grounds of the Vermillion Family Estate where the entirety of the Vermillion Family lived. It was basically a gated community but with mansions, instead of regular houses. Yuno still wasn’t used to entering the massive grounds, even after years of friendship with three of the Vermillion (Leo, Mimosa and Kirsch).

However, Yuno was used to Mimosa’s temperament. She was generally very sweet and kind, but when you pissed her off, she’d let you know about it. It was usually her older brother Kirsch that set off Mimosa, but today was Langris Vaude, Mimosa’s on-again-off-again boyfriend. They were currently not dating, but still hung out with each other. Langris was someone that Yuno didn’t get along with but did so for the sake of the basketball team and for Yuno’s friendship with Mimosa. Langris can be a bit of an ass, especially where his older half-brother Finral was concerned.

“You know he’s got a chip on his shoulder about Finral,” said Yuno, for the umpteenth time. From Mimosa, Yuno knew full well that Langris did love his brother but it was complicated because of the parents.

“But Finral is trying! And Langris won’t even give him a chance,” said Mimosa, high-voice squeaking in anger on behalf of Finral.

“Not everyone is as close with their siblings as some,” countered Yuno. 

Mimosa stopped. “Are you implying that I’m close with my brother?”

Yuno gave her a look. “You are.”

“Ew,” said Mimosa, wrinkling her nose in disgust. She was close to Kirsch, but he annoyed her to no end with his ego and need for attention. Kirsch was someone you really had to get used to being around, otherwise you’d want to punch him in the face.

Sighing, Yuno replied, “Which is why you can’t say anything about Langris and Finral’s relationship.”

“Ugh, fine,” said Mimosa, as they entered the main house where Mimosa’s grandparents lived, but where the Vermillion Family Library existed. They were going to be reading the first few chapters of their book and writing notes, then compare them. It was unfortunate that the gym had to be cleaned because of stink bombs (again). Mimosa and Yuno dodged the servants to make it to the library.

The Vermillion Family Library was as big as an actual public library, maybe even bigger. It had deep mahogany red rugs, the shelves were made of the finest wood, and there were various work-spaces for family members. Since Mimosa and Leo were about the same age, they shared one table. And to Yuno’s surprise (pleasantly surprised), Leo was there with Asta.

He didn’t think that Leo would bring Asta here in fear of making the other boy nervous. Suddenly, Yuno was very aware that he was staring at Asta and averted his gaze.

“Ah, hey, Yuno, Mimosa,” said Leo, cheerfully. Asta looked up from the book he was reading and smiled awkwardly at him and Mimosa. 

Mimosa, being personable like Leo, went over and shook hands with Asta. “We’ve not been properly introduced. I’m Leo’s cousin, Mimosa. It’s nice to meet you.”

Asta shook her hand and nodded, seemingly agreeing with her statement.

Never deterred, Mimosa said, “Mind if Yuno and I join you? We’re just gonna be reading.”

Asta gestured welcomingly to the table. Leo laughed and said, “Yeah, no worries, Mim, we’re just reading too! We picked an awesome book!”

“Frankenstein, huh,” said Yuno, spotting the title of the book that Asta was holding. “Interesting choice.”

“It’s a classic of the horror genre,” said Leo, grinning. “And Asta already read it, so he’s just re-reading it.”

“Who reads Frankenstein just because,” asked Mimosa. Asta scribbled something on the paper and handed it to Mimosa. She read it aloud. “He wrote, “I watched the movie and I felt bad for the monster so I wanted to hope that the book treated him better. But it didn’t.” Wow. That must have been depressing.”

Asta made the motion to indicate sorta by tilting his hand up and down.

Yuno hid a smile, as he sat down and took out his book. Since Mimosa was introduced properly, she sat down too. Seeing that they needed to get work down, Asta and Leo went back to their reading and Yuno and Mimosa started theirs. 

Everyone worked diligently, though Yuno found himself a bit distracted. He glanced at Asta way too many times. There was just something magnetic that drew Yuno’s gaze to the ash-blond boy who had a lot to say but not enough words to say it. It was cute that Asta was focusing so much on reading and taking notes, despite having read the book already for fun. Asta chewed on his pen cap in concentration. He didn’t know that Asta read often, but then again, Yuno barely knew him.

That was a shame. Yuno had a hard time making friends on his own. Mimosa and Yuno became friends because they had been in the same 2nd grade class after he had been fostered by Dorothy and William. Yuno lent Mimosa his blue crayon after Eric Finch ate hers. It was from that interaction that Mimosa decided that she was Yuno’s best friend. With Mimosa’s friendship came his friendship with Leopold and Noelle and subsequently learning about basketball. People always came to him to become friends. He never initiated friendship on his own.

He’d have to ask Mimosa for help, which was going to be both embarrassing and taxing.

“God kill me now,” said a loud voice belonging to Noelle Silva, Mimosa’s cousin and Leo’s second cousin. Noelle’s long silver hair was in a bun today and she had a mopey face. She dramatically collapsed onto Mimosa. “I tripped in front of Kahono again today! She’s got to think I’m such a klutz. Ughh.”

“Uhhh, Noelle,” said Leo and Mimosa, at the same time, to get her to stop talking. Noelle hadn’t noticed Asta yet. Asta was a friend of Kahono, the head of the school chorus and Noelle’s crush for the last year.

To his credit, Asta looked pretty amused but covered his mouth, so it didn’t seem like he was laughing at her.

“And then, ughhh, Bah-ha guy showed up and pretended to save me. He definitely scared her away,” said Noelle. “She’s never gonna speak to me at this rate.”

“Noelle,” said Yuno, calling her attention. “Have you met Asta?”

“Ehhhhh? Why didn’t any of you stop me,” screeched Noelle, blushing horribly. She was bad with her emotions unlike her cousins, but she can be just as loud.

Yuno tugged on his ear, a nervous habit from his youth. “We tried to stop you. Asta, Noelle. Noelle, Asta.”

Asta smiled, and handed Noelle a piece of paper that he clearly wrote while no one was looking.

Noelle stared at it and said, “You really won’t say anything to Kahono? And thanks for the luck.”

Asta nodded, encouragingly. He gave her a thumbs up with a grin on his face.

Yuno was right in his earlier observation. Asta was very cute.

He really needed to go back to basketball practice and have something other than a cute boy to grab his attention.

_~to be continued_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think!


	5. Asta

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saturdays are Asta's favorite day of the week

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like how this chapter turned out, but it's clear that I might have to up the chapter count for this story, hahahah

Saturday was Asta’s favorite day of the week. There was no school and everyone was home. Saturdays at the Enoteca-Adlai-Black house was Saturday brunch day. Since Miss Vanessa worked at a high-end bar and restaurant, she had the night shift, but she made it a rule that every Saturday morning was family time. No matter how tired Miss Vanessa was, she made sure to make pancakes, eggs, bacon, coffee (for Miss Vanessa) and fruit smoothies (for Asta, Gauche and Marie) and spend time with them. Breakfast was the only thing that Miss Vanessa made well.

While she was cooking, Gauche, Marie and Asta were in charge of setting up their four-person kitchen table with the “nice” plates, silverware and cups. And by “nice,” it meant the eclectic array of items that the unusual family of four picked up at thrift stores and dollar stores over the years that they have been together. They each had their favorite mugs, which Asta took great care to place at the table.

Asta liked being home. It was the safe place where he was the most comfortable. Asta was even comfortable enough to speak (sometimes, it depended, really on how he was feeling that day anyway). Today was a good day, so he spoke to Marie about her favorite TV show, while they worked.

“Gang way, kiddos, got the goods,” declared Miss Vanessa, once she was ready to serve up their brunch (really a late breakfast, but Vanessa declared that “brunch” was fancier).

Asta and Marie took their seats, while Gauche stared at the mess that Vanessa made while making brunch again. “Miss Vanessa, I’m not cleaning the pans this time.”

“Sure, sure, I’ll do it after we eat,” said Miss Vanessa, smiling.

Asta snickered because everyone knew that Gauche was definitely gonna clean the dishes and pans because Miss Vanessa will “forget” and run off to work. Marie giggled.

Miss Vanessa divided up the food on their plates. “I do declare that brunch begins!”

Gauche, Marie and Asta ate like they wouldn’t eat again. Fluffy pancakes, drippy sunny-side up eggs and salty bacon were always delicious. One day, Asta told himself that he was gonna eat bacon every day. Miss Vanessa, sipping her coffee, always smiled at them when they ate with gusto.

“So, Marie, how was school this week,” asked Miss Vanessa.

“It was fun! Mr. Ben said that if we all get good grades on our spelling tests, the class is gonna get a pet bunny,” said Marie. She was smiling widely. She was in fourth grade and her teacher was Ben Benfunk, who didn’t seem like someone that would be an elementary school teacher, but all the kids loved him. “Oh, but Nash and Marco got into another fight! I don’t understand why they can’t get along! I mean, me, Emma, and Recca get along all the time.”

Gauche’s eyes narrowed, but Asta kicked Gauche’s leg under the table before Gauche could start an overprotective tirade. Marie didn’t need to know that Nash and Marco were fighting because they had a crush on her.

“Well, I’m sure that the boys will sort it out before the teachers will have to,” said Miss Vanessa. “But it’s good that you have friends that you trust, Marie. I’m excited. Let me know if you want to invite Emma and Recca over to play.”

“As long as Big Brother won’t be home, I might ask,” said Marie.

Gauche held his heart, dramatically. “Marie!”

“See,” said Asta, voice scratchy from disuse. “You do it to Marie too.”

Miss Vanessa laughed. “Gauche, you’re so cute. Such a doting big brother.”

Gauche scowled, but his face was flush, which betrayed his embarrassment. “Shut up.”

“Invite your friends over, Marie,” said Vanessa, grinning. “I’ll make sure that Mr. Grumpy Pants over there won’t ruin it.” Marie happily cheered as she went back to eating and not-so-subtle stealing bacon from Gauche’s plate. “And what about you, Gauche? How was school? It’s your last year, so make sure you do well. We’ll talk about college and stuff soon.”

“It’s fine,” said Gauche, which was a normal answer for him. Gauche was a senior and he was actually really smart, so he was ranked like fifth in this class in terms of academics. 

Miss Vanessa pouted. “It’s always fine for you, isn’t it? Have you asked out Grey yet?”

Gauche choked on the fruit smoothie he was drinking as Miss Vanessa asked her question. He pounded his chest and said, “What? Where’d that come from?”

Asta shook his head. Since Grey was one of Asta’s good friends, he knew that she had a massive crush on Gauche. And since Asta was Gauche’s “little brother,” Asta also knew that Gauche liked Grey back. Grey was too shy to make a move, so the ball was in Gauche’s court (to use a basketball metaphor). 

“Prom is only a few months away. She’s a cute girl, someone else will ask her before you if you don’t,” said Miss Vanessa, teasing. Red-faced Gauche sputtered denials while Marie condescendingly patted her brother on the arm. Knowing that Gauche was out for the count, Miss Vanessa turned to Asta. “And how was school for you, Asta? Father Orsi said that it’s going well so far.”

Asta nodded. “We have a big lit project. Leo’s my partner for it again.”

Miss Vanessa said, knowingly, “He’s a good one, that Leo Vermillion. Let me know if you need help. I was very good at literature in high school.”

“That is a lie,” said a new voice. Charlotte Roselei, the head of the literature department at Clover Imperial Escalator Academy, entered the kitchen, followed by her husband Yami Sukehiro-Roselei, the Japanese language teacher. 

“Ooh, bacon,” said Yami, going for the plate of extra bacon on the counter, while Charlotte fetched herself a chair. Yami and Charlotte had been Miss Vanessa’s foster parents when Miss Vanessa was 15-18, just before she aged out. They put her on the right track. Mr. Yami and Miss Char were guests often enough, but Asta, Gauche, and Marie dared not call them “grandparents.” They were more like an aunt and uncle.

Miss Char sat in the chair and said, “As I was saying, you hated literature, ‘Nessa.”

Miss Vanessa smiled sheepishly. “But I had the best tutor!”

“Suck up,” Mr. Yami said, mockingly, as he ate the rest of their bacon, leaning on the kitchen counter.

Asta smiled. He loved his found family. He didn’t know where he would be without them. _Probably in juvie_ , Asta’s mind bitterly supplied. To avoid his bad thoughts, he diverted his attention to Mr. Yami teasing Miss Vanessa, while Miss Char was rolling her eyes at them. Asta grinned. They were so fun.

“So, what do you kids have planned today,” asked Miss Char.

“Big Brother and I are going to the library later,” said Marie. Gauche nodded solemnly. Gauche and Marie usually went to the events at the library, like arts and crafts. And despite Gauche’s denials, he was definitely in the book club with the grannies.

“And what about you, kid,” asked Mr. Yami, specifically asking Asta. 

“Secre and I are going shopping,” said Asta.

“Good. Get some shirts. You’re about bursting out of them. I’ll give you money,” said Miss Vanessa. 

Asta had been bulking up lately from his exercise routine, but nothing yet in the height department. “That’s okay…”

“Nonsense,” said Miss Char. “It never hurts to get a few more shirts.”

Miss Vanessa grinned.

Asta sighed and immediately caved. “Okay.”

*

“Asta, thanks for coming with me,” said Secre, as they entered the mall on the busy Saturday afternoon.

Asta squeezed her hand. They platonically held hands all the time, especially in crowded places where it was too easy for Asta to get distracted and wander off. Crowds and malls put him on edge, but Secre was the one person, other than Miss Vanessa, that he was able to handle going to the mall with. They headed to the Apple store first and got in line to wait for their appointment.

The main reason for the trip was to pick up things on King Lumiere’s weekly list. King Lumiere was the young Clover King. He just turned eighteen and since Secre was a member of the Swallowtail Noble Family, she had been then-Prince Lumiere’s assigned friend since childhood. Upon becoming King, Lumiere made Secre his special assistant to help him with his inventions and experiments. King Lumiere gave Secre a black card, a credit card with an unlimited amount of money, and a list every week. He also insisted that “she buy whatever she wanted” while she was out.

Asta kept trying to tell Secre that King Lumiere was in love with her, but Secre dismissed constantly. Asta never met Secre’s “other best friend” as King Lumiere had tutors go to him in Clover Castle and rarely left the place. But from the stories that Secre told him, Asta was sure that the eccentric King was head-over-feet for Secre and the young King didn’t know how to express it properly.

Often joining Secre on the shopping trips, Secre insisted that she buy lunch for them and anything that Asta needed, even if Miss Vanessa gave him pocket money. (Before he left to meet up with Secre, Miss Char gave him another 40 yul when Miss Vanessa wasn’t looking). Waiting at Apple was torture for Asta’s ADHD brain, but if it was for Secre, he’d suffer.

Shortly after coming under Miss Vanessa’s care, Asta had been enrolled in the elementary school at Clover Imperial Escalator Academy. He struggled with making friends due to his issues. He had been bullied and had gotten into fights often, but in middle school, he met Secre in homeroom. Asta thought Secre’s piercings were cool and gave her a note stating such a compliment. Since then, Secre and Asta had been inseparable at school. She looked after him and she was also great backup in a fight.

Once they were finished at Apple, they went to Hot Topic where Asta bought some clearance band t-shirts and Secre stocked up on her novelty pins. They ate lunch at the food court. Then, they went nuts going through Lumiere’s list.

Using his phone, he texted Secre as they shopped.

_“King Lumiere trusts you so much that he gives you his supply lists when he could just get servants to get them.”_

Secre snorted. “Servants aren’t allowed near the Prince’s workrooms. They’d ruin it with cleanliness.”

Asta wisely didn’t text her that she still called him “the Prince” and not “the King.” He just smiled and she glared at him as if she knew what he was thinking.

Nearing dinnertime, Secre was picked up in a big limo with some bodyguards and all the stuff that Secre bought was piled in the trunk. Secre offered Asta a ride home, but Asta needed some quiet time and walking outside always made him feel better. 

With his two bags of new clothes (the ones he bought from Hot Topic and ones Secre picked out and bought for him in Uniqlo), Asta headed home.

His phone buzzed.

It was a message from Gauche.

_“We ran out of sugar, milk, flour, eggs and chicken. Get them.”_

Asta stared at the list and snickered. It looked like Miss Vanessa might have used too many ingredients this morning. Guess he had a stop to make before he got home. Hopefully, the grocery store wasn’t busy.

_~to be continued_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, let me know what you think.
> 
> Yeah, Asta spoke in this chapter. The home which Vanessa gave him is his safe place and the psychological barrier that doesn't let the words out in every other circumstance eases. However, it is not always that he can speak when he's at home with his family, as Asta's narration mentioned.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	6. Yuno

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuno's Saturday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please enjoy.
> 
> (Also if you haven't already, please go check out **oviostron's** story "endurance, change, hope, life," which took inspiration from the idea of mute Asta. It's a lovely story thus far. It's got spoilers for the manga, but it's a great and fascinating AU)

Watching basketball practice from the sidelines was torture. After conditioning training (running, etc.), Yuno was put on scorekeeping duty by the Coaches. Yuno’s wrist was almost better, but “almost” wasn’t good enough for William and Dorothy, who didn’t want him to strain himself. At least, his temporary replacement as the small forward on the Junior Varsity (JV) team was decent enough and meshed well with his teammates. Kiato was normally the small forward on the freshmen team. Jokingly, the freshmen team was called the Junior, Junior Varsity.

The freshmen team had constantly changing team members, as Yuno, Leo, Luck and Langris had proven in their freshmen year. It was the first time in the history of the school that four freshmen did well enough to become starting members of the JV team. It was really the JV and the Varsity teams that really mattered when it came to Championships and tournaments.

If Yuno was lucky, he’d get Kirsch’s position as point guard (the position he actually wanted on the JV squad but that had gone to Langris) once Kirsch “retired” from the season early since the jerk was actually graduating early in January. 

He had to admit that he missed playing with his JV team. Sure, Langris can be kind of a dictator as the point guard, but Leo was a great power forward, Luck was a scary precise shooting guard and Magna was a solid center player. With Kiato as small forward, they were still easily beating the backup JV team in their practice match.

Yuno kept up with the three ongoing practice matches simultaneously, but while he knew that his JV team was going to win, he was more interested in the Varsity match. The starting (first-string) Varsity team, the team who was a National Championship team, was dominating the second-string Varsity team. Kirsch, for all his arrogance and faults, was the top point guard in high school basketball in the Kingdom. Klaus made the top five list of high school basketball power forwards in the Kingdom. David Swallow put all other small forwards to shame—Yuno’s learned a lot from him. Even Xerx, who was a classist asshole, and Solid, who was a downright sneering bully, made a great shooting guard and center, respectively. But it was Kirsch who made it all work as Team Captain.

Yuno would never admit to Mimosa but Kirsch was sorta cool.

But only when he was playing basketball.

“Yuno, why don’t you head home,” suggested Coach Zara Ideale, smiling at him. Coach Zara was the nicest guy, which was weird since his son was a menacing chemistry nerd. He knew so much about basketball, even if he never went pro like he had wanted due to a knee injury in college. William spoke highly of Coach Zara. “I can take over scorekeeping.”

Yuno looked over at William, who had been his ride there for Saturday practice. William noticed he was staring and just nodded at him, which to Yuno was all he needed to gather his things and head out the door. Walking home wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, besides, it gave him time to think of how he was gonna get attention to his basketball skills to get Kirsch’s position once the older teen left.

Being benched because of his injury bothered him. He didn’t want to lose his chance at playing point guard in his Senior Year because he accidentally hurt his wrist doing something stupid. (Okay, so helping Dorothy wasn’t stupid, he was just mad that he slipped on the ladder. He was glad it was him that got hurt and not Dorothy).

On his way out, he saw a crowd of people outside of the gym.

Yuno made a note to warn all his teammates that the Basketball Team Fan Club was being weird again. They thought that the team didn’t know that there were subsets of the BTFC, dedicated to specific members of the team, but they all knew. Kirsch was a favorite. So was Leo. Yuno suspected that it also had to do with the fact that they were both Vermillion and they were one of the Three Royal Houses of Clover and therefore, filthy rich. And Yuno did everything in his power to not encourage them when it came to himself. He knew that there was probably one for him and the thought made him very annoyed.

Walking by the group of the giggling students of all genders, he heard them whisper about how dreamy Leo was and how beautiful Kirsch was when they played. 

Rolling his eyes, he pulled out his phone and sent a text to the basketball team’s group chat to warn them that the fan club was on the prowl again.

He got a text from Dorothy.

_“Please pick up these things at the grocery: milk, sugar, tea, and those fancy German cookies. K, thanks, love you, you’re the best, Yuno ^_^”_

Yuno rolled his eyes. William must have texted her that Yuno was leaving practice early. Sighing, Yuno walked off the school grounds and into the city. There was a grocery store on the way home. The Vangeance-Unsworth house was a good half-hour walk from the school. They only drove every day because William and Dorothy often had to lug assignments to grade, amongst other things. The other things being because they are both history teachers, they tended to have dioramas of scenes from history, extra books, copies of documentaries, the occasional historical sword, and an entire set-up with little army men and everything for explanations of battles.

His parents were history nerds, what can you do?

It took him a bit to get to the grocery store. When he arrived, he entered and grabbed a handbasket since he only needed a few things. He went straight to the back of the store where the milk was located. He never understood why the most basic thing that everyone usually needed (milk) was all the way in the back.

And there he saw Asta standing in front of the milk doors.

Yuno’s heart skipped a beat and then he immediately mentally berated himself. _Cool it, heart._

Asta looked to be struggling and making a face at the different kinds of milk. Was he having a hard time deciding? Was he okay?

“Asta?”

_~to be continued_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always let me know what you think.
> 
> Next month there will only be one chapter update. December is always a hard month for me, so I changed my story update plans in antcipation of it. Please stay safe out there.


	7. Asta

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a grocery store meeting

Asta blinked a few times and realized that Yuno was standing there in the grocery store, staring at Asta. Flushing, Asta fumbled for his phone since he didn’t have his tablet with him. Yuno was as patient as that day in the gym when Asta waited for Leo. Asta typed out in his phone notes and showed it to Yuno. He explained that he was shopping for the house, but Gauche didn’t tell him what milk to get since Marie only drinks 2% milk, Vanessa and Asta drink whole milk, and Gauche drinks 1% milk. And Gauche didn’t respond back when Asta texted which kind.

Yuno stared at him for a moment and then said, “Get one of each in the half-gallons.”

Asta smiled widely, thanking God that Yuno didn’t think he lost his mind. It was a good idea. They were milk drinkers so it wouldn’t go to waste. He quickly grabbed one of each.

Yuno grabbed a gallon of 2% milk. Yuno’s stoic face didn’t betray his thoughts, so it was a surprise to Asta to hear him mumble and ask, “Do you want to shop together?”

Nodding his head, he walked with Yuno down the aisles, each getting the things on their list. Asta was a bit embarrassed that someone as cool and collected as Yuno was hanging out with a guy like Asta. Yuno even pointed out better sales since Asta usually just grabbed the brands that he recognized. Still Asta was on edge. He normally went shopping with Miss Vanessa or Secre, since they knew him so well.

The last thing he wanted to do was to make Yuno think that he was a complete loser. He’d like to be friends with Yuno but if Yuno thought he was a loser, Asta would feel way too awkward to try and be friends.

They grabbed everything on their lists except for Yuno’s adopted mom’s request for the fancy German cookies. Asta joined Yuno in the cookie aisle, even if he couldn’t have half of them. At least Charmy made him yummy sugar-free cookies. Just because he was at risk for diabetes didn’t mean that he had to avoid all sugary things, but the doctors and his family said otherwise.

“You look really sad,” said Yuno, snapping Asta out of his thoughts, as Yuno dropped a small box of sugar-free cookies in Asta’s basket. 

Asta hoped his face wasn’t red.

“Leo told me that you’re not supposed to eat so much sugar,” said Yuno, a bit apologetic as if Asta would get upset if he thought Yuno and Leo were talking about Asta behind his back.

Asta smiled and used his free hand to make the motion to indicate “sorta.”

“Meaning that you eat it anyway, even if it’s bad for you,” asked Yuno, sounding amused.

Asta let out a snort of laughter. 

Yuno smiled.

Asta nearly had a heart-attack. Yuno’s smile was so pretty. _Please, please don’t be blushing like a fool,_ he prayed.

Sadly, they were finished shopping so the next part was going to the check-out. This grocery was the economical choice but that meant that there were no automated check-outs. Asta didn’t have anything against the cashiers, but many were tired and overworked and their patience was gone probably by the first person who asked a stupid question in their shift. Asta steeled himself. Yuno let Asta go first.

He put his things on the belt and let the cashier quickly ring them up.

“It’s gonna be 30 yul,” said the cashier.

Asta handed them the two 20 yul bills he had left from the pocket money that he was given earlier that day. And then, he waited for his change. He was given the difference, when he immediately realized that he was given a 5 yul bill and not a 10 yul bill.

“Hey, you didn’t give him all the change,” said Yuno, interjecting because he noticed Asta staring at his hands. Was Yuno watching him? “You need to give him the other 5 yul.”

Asta’s face flushed, and the cashier winced, as if realizing the mistake. He got his remaining money, Yuno got checked out and they headed out of the grocery store together.

He didn’t know whether to be annoyed or flattered. Typically, Asta only let a few people actively help him in those situations, because he can actually handle it himself even if it took a long time.

“I’m sorry if I overstepped my bounds and made you feel bad,” said Yuno, immediately.

Asta shook his head. He understood where Yuno was coming from and it saved Asta an even more mortifying moment of having to try to communicate with the cashier. He forgot himself for a moment and signed “Thank you.”

Not everyone knew sign language but Yuno didn’t make him uncomfortable, just nervous in that butterflies in the stomach and sweaty hands kind of a way.

Yuno smiled again (twice in one day!) and surprised Asta by signing back “You’re welcome.”

Asta’s heart skipped a beat and he knew he was doomed.

_~to be continued_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always let me know what you think.


	8. Yuno

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuno's birthday is coming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with the next chapter!!!!

“Yuno, let’s plan your birthday dinner,” said Dorothy, plopping the very embarrassing “Book of Yuno” on the kitchen table after dinner one night at the end of September. The “Book of Yuno” had started off as a simple scrapbook that Dorothy and William originally used to mark down important events in Yuno’s life. Though many parents did it for babies, William and Dorothy did it for seven-year-old Yuno and they never stopped. Birthdays, basketball games, report cards and many other things were in there. It was now an oversized binder. Yuno knew it was futile to try and escape since Dorothy had the damnable book ready. William looked bemused at his wife.

“Anything’s fine,” said Yuno.

Dorothy gasped. “Nonsense! Who are we inviting this year? Leo, Mimosa, Klaus and Noelle as usual. No one else? Perhaps your new friend that you’ve been texting non-stop for two weeks.”

Yuno stared at Dorothy. How did she know that he was texting someone new? Was it just a mom thing or just a Dorothy thing? He didn’t respond. There was no way he was telling her that he had been texting Asta the last couple of weeks. Since they had randomly met up at the grocery store that one Saturday, Yuno and Asta traded numbers. Yuno wasn’t quite attached to his phone like others his age, but it made talking to Asta easier. Asta may not be able to say the words out loud but Asta had a lot to say.

Dorothy smiled. “Fine, fine, the usual four. Now, what do you want for your cake? I’ve been meaning to try a new chocolate and pecan cake recipe I found! What do you think? None of your friends are allergic to nuts, right?”

“No one’s allergic. And that’s fine, whatever you want to make,” said Yuno.

“You can ask for what you want, Yuno,” said William. “We had better make some chocolate chip cookies too, dear.”

“Yes, yes. So, what should be the main dish?”

“You can make the same dinner as last year,” said Yuno. “Everyone really liked it.”

Dorothy clapped her hands together. “Wonderful! Now, there’s the matter of the most serious question. What do you want for your birthday?”

He hated that question.

There was nothing that he wanted. There was nothing he needed. He had enough clothes, he had a phone and a laptop, he didn’t need a car since it was easy enough to walk everywhere and the Clover Kingdom’s public transportation system was even better than Japan and China. He got new basketball shoes before every season started (and also when he grew out of them). Yuno was more than content with the clothes on his back, the roof over his head and the food in his belly.

William and Dorothy didn’t need to buy him anything to show him that he was loved.

“Surprise me,” said Yuno.

William sighed, while Dorothy booed. She said, whining way too much for a grown woman, “Yuno, please be a bit selfish for once and tell us.”

“No.”

*

“Yeah, of course, I’m coming to your birthday dinner. Your parents are like secret geniuses at cooking,” said Leopold, when Yuno handed him the handmade invitation after morning basketball practice. They exited the locker rooms and headed to the homeroom. “If they weren’t the best history teachers here, I’d want them to open up a restaurant.”

Yuno rolled his eyes at Leo’s statement. “And remember…”

“Yeah, yeah, no presents,” said Leo, scoffing. “You’re one of two guys that I know that never want birthday presents.”

Yuno snorted. “Oh?”

“Asta won’t take them either,” said Leopold. “I tried back in freshman year. I think I offended him somehow. Anyway…WAIT! Shit, I forgot!”

“What,” Yuno asked, startled. Leo often forgot many things.

“Asta’s birthday is on the same day as yours!”

“You’re kidding,” Yuno blandly stated. He and Asta shared a birthday? That was news to him. They had been in the same school system since middle school and there were always the birthday wishes announcements in the morning for whoever’s birthday it was that day. Had he always just tuned it out? He must’ve. 

_I should get him a present,_ Yuno thought. He sighed annoyed. Didn’t Leo finish telling him that Asta wasn’t interested in presents either?

“Nope,” said Leo. “Don’t worry I can still go to your dinner! Asta’s foster mother is having something on that Saturday for Asta. I think it’s just family for Asta on the actual day.”

“Oh.”

Asta invited Leo but not him. Yuno’s heart sank. He really thought he and Asta were becoming friends with how much they have been texting. Or was it Asta was too nervous to ask him? Should Yuno bring it up the next time they spoke? 

Should Yuno invite Asta to _his_ birthday dinner? 

“Yuno, you’ve got such a look on your face,” said Mimosa, as he and Leo entered their shared homeroom. “What crawled up your butt and died?”

Yuno glared at her. He pulled out her invitation and handed it to her. “Against my better judgement, menace.”

“Love you too, Yuno,” Mimosa cheerfully informed him, taking the birthday invite with glee.

“Your cousin is a menace,” Yuno told Leopold.

Leopold laughed. “Yeah, I know. Isn’t she great?”

*

That afternoon, after basketball practice for Yuno and the environmental protection club for Mimosa, they were back in the Vermillion Family Library to work on their literature project. They finished reading the book they chose already, so he and Mimosa were working on outlining the papers and filling in the requirements for the Shared Journal. The presentation was the last thing on their list, since once they finished the papers, they would have all their information to glean from them.

“Why do we have to write three papers,” Mimosa asked, complaining as she squinted at the packet detailing the requirements.

“Your cousin is very thorough,” said Yuno.

“Ugh, you’d think he’d go easy on me and Leo, but no, Fuegoleon just has to be ten times as tough on us,” said Mimosa. One of the pitfalls of getting paired with Mimosa was that Fuegoleon did not believe in nepotism, so Mimosa was graded harder than the regular student. Any little mistake, any cutting corners, Fuegoleon would catch it.

Yuno smirked. “Well, it just makes us work harder.”

“He’s the true menace.” The door to the library opened. Yuno and Mimosa turned their heads to find Leo and Asta entering. Mimosa greeted, “Leo! Asta! Afternoon.”

Leo and Asta joined them at the table. Leo said, “How’s your project going?”

“It’s so long,” said Mimosa.

“Big Brother keeps asking me how it’s going at home,” said Leo, shuddering.

Asta chuckled.

Yuno almost smiled at the sound of Asta’s laughter. _Get it together, it’s just a laugh,_ he told himself.

“Anyway, we finished reading the book, so we’re trying to get the Shared Journal out of the way today,” said Leopold. He turned to his literature partner. “Right, Asta?”

Asta nodded, enthusiastically.

“Don’t skimp, Leo,” said Mimosa, warning.

“I know,” said Leo, grimacing.

Mimosa turned her attention to Asta. Mimosa said, “Asta! Leo told me that your birthday is next week. Did you know that you and Yuno have the same birthday? That’s pretty wild.” Mimosa asked what Yuno wanted to know.

Asta’s eyes widened. He looked at Yuno. Guess Asta didn’t pay attention to the birthday announcements either.

“Yeah, it’s true,” said Yuno to Asta’s unasked question.

Asta pulled out his tablet and typed. Yuno, Mimosa and Leo waited for him to be done. Asta showed them the tablet with the word document filled with words.

Asta wrote:

_“I don’t know when my real birthday is. All I know it was the day that the firemen found me in front of the firehouse one night. The nurses at the hospital decided that it as the best idea to put that on my birth certificate along with the name the firemen gave me before handing me over to the Kingdom’s authorities.”_

__The fluffy ash-blond haired Asta looked sheepishly at them. Mimosa and Leo’s eyes were wide in shock as they stared at Asta and Yuno._ _

__“What firehouse,” Yuno asked, softly._ _

__Asta typed and showed them the tablet._ _

___“Firehouse #101, way out in the boonies, near Hage Village.”_ _ _

__“No way,” said Leo._ _

__“Wow,” said Mimosa._ _

__Asta tilted his head in confusion._ _

__Yuno just stared at Asta before saying, “That’s where I was left as a baby too.”_ _

_~to be continued_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You get one more chapter this month--which will be out on Feb 26th! Then in March, it's back to one chapter. 
> 
> Let me know what you think as always.
> 
> <3


	9. Asta

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asta is pretty shocked at the news...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING:  
> Mentions of child abuse (just a character remembering)

After several minutes of silence, Asta’s heart-rate spiked and not because of any fluffy feelings he may or may not have concerning Yuno. The news that Yuno had been left as a baby in the same spot, on the same day, found by the same people as Asta boggled his mind. Mimosa and Leo seemed to have known this story about Yuno because now the Vermillion cousins looked at each other in seemingly silent communication.

Asta breathed in and out before typing out something on his tablet. _“That’s pretty amazing. Happy early birthday, Yuno.”_ What else could Asta say but that? It was nothing more than a coincidence.

“It’s like destiny,” said Mimosa, suddenly. “It’s really sweet now that you two are becoming friends.”

“You two have a connection that goes back your entire lives,” said Leo, grinning. “That’s awesome.”

Yuno looked at Asta.

To his surprise, Asta didn’t flinch at the golden-eyed boy’s stare. Instead, Asta met the stare head-on. He and Yuno have been talking via text for the last couple of weeks, mostly talking about basketball, slowing inching towards a hastily-built friendship. This same birthday story threw Asta for a loop, but ultimately, he didn’t think that it’d change anything.

It was just another thing to add to the list of things he was learning about Yuno. Asta wondered if he should feel guilty or ashamed for wanting to know everything about Yuno.

Asta smiled at Yuno.

Yuno half-smiled back

They locked eyes for a few moments, when Mimosa whispered to Leo, “You think they remember we’re here?”

*

Later that night, Asta sat on a stool in the bathroom. Miss Vanessa came home from work and saw that Asta’s hair became even more unruly. She dragged him and sat him down to trim his hair. This happened at least every two weeks. Gauche and Marie were, thankfully, busy handling dinner dishes. The last time Marie helped Miss Vanessa with Asta’s hair, he had a black and purple streak in his hair for three months and had green painted nails for even longer. Asta was a true sucker for Marie’s pouting face.

Asta outwardly got annoyed when Miss Vanessa trimmed his hair, but secretly, he enjoyed it. He liked when she played with his hair. It was truly relaxing.

Times likes these gave him time to think without overwhelming himself. Miss Vanessa always knew when to pull Asta out of his mind.

Life before Miss Vanessa was miserable. 

He had been shuffled from foster home to foster home. The people always told his case worker: _He’s too loud. He never shuts up. He’s too messy. He won’t listen. He fights too much. He causes too much trouble. He’s stupid._

Eventually, the case worker gave up trying to place him in a foster home. He was five when he went to the group home. The other boys in the group home were older. Some were just plain mean. Some had mental illness that impaired their judgement. Asta had been the youngest and the smallest—he had been the easiest target. The overwhelmed group home attendants always turned a blind-eye to the bullying and harassment.

Asta learned very quickly that being quiet made him safe.

“My little Asta, come back to me,” said Miss Vanessa, gently floofing up his hair.

“Hmmm,” Asta hummed.

“What’s got you bothered?”

Asta opened his mouth but the words didn’t want to come out today. He signed using his hands instead. 

_“Thinking about why my parents didn’t want me.”_

Miss Vanessa turned him around on the stool to give him a big hug. “You think about it every birthday. I’d say that you were just meant to be in my life and Gauche and Marie’s life and that’s why you’re here. We want you and we love you.”

Asta sniffled.

Miss Vanessa had gotten approved as a foster mom eight years ago. She had been given the siblings Gauche and Marie Adlai as her first foster children. Gauche had a reputation for being a delinquent and feral when it came to protecting his baby sister. The case worker that had Gauche and Marie also had Asta as a charge. When the case worker saw that Miss Vanessa had managed to help Gauche temper his more violent impulses, Asta’s case worker immediately asked Miss Vanessa if she would be able to take in another kid.

Asta had been lucky that Miss Vanessa didn’t hesitate to agree (as she had good role models in the form of Yami and Charlotte), whisking him away from the group home to a place where he had a family. She saved him from a fate worse than death.

“So, what do you want for your birthday,” Miss Vanessa asked, kissing him on the top of the head.

He shook his head.

How can he want anything when he has all he needed?

_~to be continued_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think!
> 
> There'll be one chapter next month!!

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think. I'm gonna try to update twice a month!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [endurance, change, hope, life](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27399202) by [oviostron](https://archiveofourown.org/users/oviostron/pseuds/oviostron)




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